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“So, you mean there was something connecting you to the villain?”

“Uh-huh.”

As I sat next to Ji-hye, eating bread, I paused for a moment and fell into thought.

“Can we really just label them as villains?”

In shows and magical girl stories, the nature of the monsters varies immensely. Their roles might overlap a bit, but if you dig into the details, you find anything from brainwashed humans to outright created monsters—it’s all over the place.

In this case, they were just hired thugs.

Whether they’re Earthlings or aliens, they’re literally just gangsters employed by a corporation. If you want to sound a bit posh, you could call them contractors. They’re the ones who don’t bat an eye at doing illegal stuff like you see in movies.

Yet, in the original story, the combatants are often portrayed sympathetically.

Yes, they work for the villains, but it’s frequently depicted that they’re doing it out of necessity to feed their families, making it seem more like a survival tactic.

It’s a bit of a funny comic, too, exploring the absurdity of their situations.

Back when it was serialized on a blog, the humor was the primary focus, so those scenarios weren’t portrayed in a very serious way. However, now that it’s officially serialized, there seems to be a strange increase in negative portrayals of magical girls, creating a tilt towards that direction.

Surely, when it first started serialization, both sides had their complexities.

“Well, they’re salaried employees, so it is what it is.”

“…But even knowing that, you’re still working in a place like that.”

Uh-huh.

Honestly, I’m not entirely sure either.

Other magical girls are firmly convinced we’re the good guys, and I reckon most people think the same way.

Noir Corporation is portrayed as evil, merely setting up its headquarters in this country for tax evasion.

But despite that, the shopping mall on the lower floors of Noir Corporation headquarters is doing exceptionally well. The claim that it’s the largest company in the country isn’t just a made-up story. Their sales figures reflect that.

Some think it’s due to their monopoly on technology.

Truthfully, if you dig deeper, there are many more shady aspects involved. Even though official serialization has increased the depictions of combatants’ hardships, the author originally set this up as a villainous place.

With the “darkened version” in the officially serialized adaptation, certain reasons for the federation and corporation to be interconnected have come to light.

For infinite energy.

Well, from what I hear, it doesn’t sound like a bad gig. If they only took on volunteers, paid salaries properly, and ensured a balance in life, then working there might not be so bad, right?

If it goes beyond that, then the story changes.

We both shared a moment of silence, eating our bread.

The weather had completely warmed up now. It was spring. School had also resumed.

In the meantime, I had gone through several more battles. My magical girl name, “Happy Lily,” had become well-known among people.

Surprisingly, the news hadn’t edited or mosaicked my outfit. I think they treat it similarly to how they perceive dresses worn by celebrities at award ceremonies.

“Did you know?”

Noticing the atmosphere had gotten a little awkward, Ji-hye asked me.

“My friends have been asking about you a lot.”

“Really?”

My friends hardly ever talked to me.

Thinking about it, there might be one more reason for them to ostracize me. Since it’s a school where people have to be on alert around ‘magical girls’ or the ‘federation,’ they probably end up just avoiding me. If it were a school filled with nasty kids, someone might have picked a fight over my outfit.

A magical girl can’t just go around hitting others, after all.

“Yeah. They say you’re cool a lot.”

“Is that so?”

Hearing my friends say that didn’t resonate with me completely.

“So… how’s it been lately?”

“Huh?”

“The magical girl thing. Is it tough?”

“No, not really.”

The combatants were too easy to deal with. In fact, most people just run away when they see me. It seems like no one wants to get hit with a hammer, no matter what.

“Then why do you look like you’re thinking hard?”

“Huh?”

“It seems like you need to think a little more about it.”

“….”

Thinking, huh?

I swung the swing I was sitting on back and forth for a moment. It wasn’t truly a rocking chair, but the feeling of floating was rather nice. Perhaps that’s why this spot was often used by other kids when discussing their worries with friends.

Whenever I was here, Ji-hye would come and sit next to me to chat about various things.

Talking about worries with friends rarely results in solutions. After all, they’re just kids around my age, and even if they suggest solutions, they’re seldom sharp enough.

But still, after saying it once, it does bring some relief. In fact, saying it out loud feels more comfortable because the kids lack the power to solve anything.

Adults always seem to butt in, trying to solve things for you, or dismissing your problems as if they never existed.

“There’s one pesky combatant.”

When I mentioned this, Ji-hye perked up. It was odd seeing her, who usually talked a lot, suddenly go quiet.

“They all run away the moment they see me, but that one keeps trying to take me on.”

“You mean… you’re saying you might lose?”

“No, it’s not that. If we fight, I generally win in one shot. It’s just… I’m saying there’s someone like that.”

I paused briefly, then continued.

“And yet, they’re not just enduring it out of stubbornness, nor do they seem to be doing it due to any sense of duty.”

But this was all just my conjecture.

They always try to act tough in front of me, clenching their fists. They might be shaking a little, but there’s no wavering.

That’s somewhat different from merely being obstinate. It felt like they were waiting for a real fight against me.

“…Are they a pervert? Like, do they enjoy losing?”

“No way.”

“Or perhaps they’re a professional fighter?”

“Well, who knows about that.”

I’m not so sure whether they’re truly skilled or not. It’s hard to evaluate these things objectively. The power disparity between us is just too vast.

Moreover, the opponent is an alien that can’t even manage a simple circuit. There’s quite a big difference compared to a magical girl who can whip up circuits flawlessly.

“So, do you avoid them because of that?”

“No.”

It’s almost the opposite.

Even though they’re an enemy, there’s something oddly familiar about them.

I was like that at one point.

Well, maybe I still am.

“It’s complicated.”

As I replied vaguely, Ji-hye didn’t push further and just smiled.

“Yeah, it is.”

I took a long breath, feeling ridiculous about myself.

*

Spending a long time at the magical girl headquarters, I realized there were days when just resting at home was better.

Even magical girls occasionally have days without missions; maybe that’s why.

I mentioned to Cherry that I wanted to take a week off at home. Ha-yoon was supportive about it too.

When I rested, it seemed Ha-yoon decided to rest as well, so today she got off at the same bus stop as usual.

I still hadn’t told Ha-yoon where I was staying. On the contrary, as we spent more time together, it became less necessary to say anything about it.

Although it felt good to walk home with her like this after a long time, I still didn’t want her to come to the orphanage where I lived.

After walking for a while, I reached the point where I would say goodbye to Ha-yoon.

There aren’t many kids living up here. It’s quite a bed-town. Even if someone did live up here, it’s unlikely they would think about walking up that steep hill.

“Well, I guess this is it for today.”

Ha-yoon said that with a sort of lifeless tone.

Just a thought, but could it be that she’s a bit sad about parting?

“See you tomorrow—”

As Ha-yoon said that,

“Ugh.”

Not far off, I heard a sound like that.

Both of us turned our heads at once.

There, a girl with her entire body painted blue—

Oh, wait, her skin was simply blue.

Her skin wasn’t the only thing blue; she had antennae on her head. It wasn’t terrifying or anything, just like her hair had a bit of a strange twist.

I don’t know how to describe it; it looked like a character from an 80s cartoon depicting an alien heroine.

“Ugh, did I drink too much today?”

She looked like she belonged to our age group, yet she said something utterly out of place.

“….”

Ha-yoon and I exchanged glances, then turned to the alien.

For some reason, the alien suddenly took off her shoes right where the sidewalk ended and neatly arranged them in the street.

Then, as if it was her own room, she lay down right in the middle of the road.

Though it was slowly warming up to spring, the weather was still quite chilly.

No matter how busy that place might be with cars and people, lying there was certainly dangerous.

We looked at each other again, shaking our heads in disbelief before approaching the downed alien.

First, the two of us moved together to safely guide the alien out of the way, and I thought it was odd how she didn’t smell like alcohol.

 

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